


trails of dead and soaking wet cotton

by Tinuviel



Series: the light in the distance, waiting for me [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: A lot of elaboration on the In Crimson It Began cutscenes, Angst, Drabble, Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood Spoilers, Gen, Near Death Experiences, Violence, dragoons doing dragoon things, how do lb3s work in canon we just don't know, vague mentions of established relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2019-04-20 08:16:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14256762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tinuviel/pseuds/Tinuviel
Summary: The Warrior of Light can't lose a fight, until she does.





	trails of dead and soaking wet cotton

**Author's Note:**

> (title from rotten by the naked and the famous)  
> So since the Unending Journey doesn't give the stuff in between the actual cutscene segments, I maaaay have gotten some stuff wrong in this but this is mostly about by the end of end of Heavensward Pri is like, pride to the high heavens in terms of battle strength, and the first fight with Zenos is really a good chance to knock her down like 5 pegs

Rhalgar’s Reach was chaos. The air was heavy with ash and blood, and that’s saying little for the cacophony of sound echoing throughout the valley. Screaming, the clash of metal on metal, the creaks and groans of Garlean machinery. It seemed she had misjudged how much Garlamald wanted to keep their grip on Ala Mhigo. She had expected a fighting force certainly, but not quite the entire damn legion invading. 

Pri barely heard Pippin’s instructions to the other Scions before she was in the air, spear coming down full force on the driver of a magitek reaper some yalms away. The roar in her blood demanded attention, and she intended to sait it; becoming little more than a flash of white armour and tail across the battlefield. 

It was messy, bloody, and despite it all, Pri was thriving. The rush of adrenaline when she jumped higher and higher, falling with the force of a comet, and soaring back up before the mist of blood had even settled, it reminded her she was alive. Pri couldn’t deny she loved to fight, almost savoured it. She was more than just a name and a legend, she had toppled Garleans and Gods alike, and it would be no different here.

Alphinaud, Alisaie, Pippin, and Krile followed her warpath from the ground, taking care of any soldiers Pri missed, and supporting injured resistance members. They were half way through the Reach when Pri saw them. Lyse, Conrad, and Y’shtola were a little ways to the side; Lyse was tied up but looked uninjured. Conrad was unconscious, and Y’shtola-

_There was so much blood_

Pri was stunned, stunned and furious. She heard the creek of her gauntlets as she gripped her halberd even tighter, and felt her right eye throb as her fury overtook every other emotion.

She watched Krile and Alphinaud rush over to Y’shtola and Conrad, healing light pouring from their hands. It was a momentary distraction, and then she heard the sound of armour that was not her own.

“Your friends were a disappointment. But you…. You will entertain me, will you not?”

The man who spoke to her was huge, dwarfing Pri in height and the sheer size of his magitek armour. It was odd armour, quite unlike Gaius Van Baelsar’s or Nero’s, with a tall helm and cloth wrapped around his waist. He held a thin sword in his hand, the shape achingly familiar to Pri. The sword native to her homeland.

The pounding in her head grew stronger, and she felt Pippin and Alisaie fall in beside her. 

_So this was her real opponent? The one who hurt ‘Shtola?_

Pri charged, not waiting for him to attack first, feigning a thrust from the right before bending her knees and leaping to the sky. She felt her inner dragon writhe, burning hot in her blood, and she shot to the ground with a flurry of fire, scorching the ground all around her black. 

The man in the armour didn’t even flinch, wholly unaffected by the flames licking at his armour. Pri gritted her teeth and attacked again, halberd coming down relentlessly, and each time meeting the katana the man held almost lazily. What was this man? To stand against her attacks with no reaction? She knew Alisaie and Pippin must be thinking the same thing, though not as strong as Pri, it was still shocking to see someone hold off the attacks from three people at once with vague disinterest. 

Pri could feel the change in the air, see it in his stance. He was doing something; readying some sort of attack, and she reacted with no thought, leaping backwards and shoving Alisaie and Pippin away, as far out of range as she could. 

The ground flashed and she felt the attack rattle through her body. The pain was enough she had to plant her halberd as an anchor, if only to avoid sliding to her knees in front of her opponent. Pri coughed, tasting the blood in her throat. She couldn’t be defeated here, she wouldn’t let herself-

_After Ul’dah_

_After Haurchefant_

She wouldn’t fall, she had the power and strength to defeat Primals and Ascians, no mere man would defeat her, not when she had her family to defend

_Not when her own pride was on the line_

She jumped again

And again

Trading blows back and forth with that katana, with this monster of a man who didn’t even move when she threw her full strength against him. She was losing ground at this rate, being forced back on her heels to avoid getting hit. 

It was time for this to end. 

Pri jumped away, feet skidding in the gravel as she took her stance. She could feel the dragon aether well within her, trying to force it’s way out of her bones and blood. Tendrils of blue aether swirled around her, flashing with traces of red, as she felt the pounding of her eye find rhythm with her heart. 

Pri bent her knees, and flew skyward. 

Higher and higher, nothing but a flash of condensed aether against white armour and scale.  
She would put everything into this attack, all her fury, all her strength

_All her fear_

She shot to the ground like a crack of lightning, aether exploding her wake, halberd aimed with perfect precision-

And meeting with not flesh, but a sword.

Pri felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her, gold and bloody orange eyes wide with confusion. The seconds were like minutes, and with a metal shriek, she felt the head of her halberd give way.

_This was impossible_

In her shock and confusion, she barely registered the same katana that had just blocked her attack drop and come back up against her, striking clean across her chest and throwing her back. Pri hit the ground and rolled, blood and dirt coating her once gleaming drachen armour, the same armour that she had felt dent and break upon her impact.

Her chest screamed in pain, blood sputtering past her lips, and she thought she heard Alphinaud scream her name, but she could feel her consciousness ebbing way, using the last of her strength to crawl on to her knees.

_She wouldn’t die laying down_

Half conscious, she more felt the heavy vibrations of the ground than saw them. Was this it then? Was she going to die? Pri was afraid, and she didn’t think she’d ever been so afraid of dying before…

She didn’t want to die.

_Estinien….I’m sorry_

Her heart was pounding in her throat when she felt cold metal grip her chin, a striking difference from the hot blood she felt on her face and chest, dripping past weak fingers. Dimly, she felt those armoured fingers swipe over her lips, gliding in fresh blood, before dropping her face, and letting her body finally sink to the ground.  
.  
“Pathetic.”

And Pri knew nothing more. 

To her surprise, she woke the next morning; feeling very much like she had gotten ran over by a dragon, or maybe a magitek reaper. Her head ached and her chest felt like it was on fire, but...she was alive, and she was more relieved about that than she thought she ever would be. Pri took a deep breath, and closed her eyes again. She had lost, she had never lost before, and she could feel the shame of it in the pit of her stomach. Just how strong was that man? And how much stronger did she have to be to defeat him?

She didn’t know, but she would find out, and you would defeat him.

_For those we have lost, and those we have yet to save._

**Author's Note:**

> My fics are mad out of order but I do plan to explain Pri's eye eventually (Welcome Back (we thought we lost you) vaguely has some hints of it but it's actually something that was added after I finished writing that oops) also welcome back to the 30 seconds of being horny for zenos and then going back to normal show, i'm tinuviel and i'll be your host


End file.
